1955 Topps Baseball Set - Why no Mantle?

Gemmy10

Do any of you collectors out there no why the Mick wasn't in the set? Alslo why are there only 206 cards? It seems like many players besides Mantle were not in the set.

wallst32

Topps and Bowman had exclusive rights with some players. There's no 54 or 55 Topps Mantle.

Musial also comes to mind; all of his early cards are Bowman.

easttexascardsandgames

Its like the 52 and 53 Topps Williams

MajorDanby

i would have loved to see a 54 topps mantle.

jrdolan

Thank God that Bowman didn't have exclusive rights to Mick in '52 and '53. Two of the hobby's most important cards would never have existed.

In that event, '51 Bowman (currently #2 in the Mantle pantheon) would have been Mick's undisputed top card, followed by '52 Bowman, which right now is a distant fourth behind '52 and '53 Topps.

In this scenario, Mick's first Topps card in 1956, the Triple Crown year, would have been even more popular than it already is and might even have overshadowed '52 Bowman in popularity and importance. I think it already does in the eyes of some.

helionaut

You can see a 54 Topps Mantle. There's a set produced by UD around 1994 called "All-Time Heroes" or somesuch. It was one of their first attempts at a "Legends" type set with old players and today's card technology. They produced 2 cards in the style of 1954 Topps, in cooperation with Topps. One was a reprint of the Ted Williams card, which worked nicely with Topps's 1954 Archives set. UD had an exclusive deal with Ted to produce cards at the time, so it couldn't be reprinted by Topps for their reprint set. And they also made a Mantle card. These cards can be tough to find, and they've gotten kind of hot over the last couple years. They cost about $25-30 now, or more, depending on who you ask. It's a nice looking card, but they have a white border along the top which kind of screws up the illusion.

As to why there are only 206 cards in the 55 set, I speculate that the battle with Bowman was taking its toll, and they cut back to save money. I think, like the 1953 set, there were more cards prepared but never printed.

baseballfanatic

There was a 54 Mantle that was included in the second set of paper cards that appeared in the August 23,1954 issue of Sports Illustrated